The significance of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held at Cairo in September 1994 was reiterated at a high-level meeting recently in Europe.

During the Third Council of the Inter-European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (IEPFPD) held on 26 and 27 May at Lisbon, a declaration was adopted reaffirming that the ICPD Programme of Action constitutes “the very basis for progress on population, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and sustainable development issues”.

The meeting was attended by parliamentarians from 20 parliaments in Europe, representatives of the four other regional parliamentary networks in the world, UNFPA, IPPF, IPPFEN, the World Bank, representatives of the embassies of Finland, Indonesia, Angola, the Holy See and non-governmental organizations from France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

(Source: IPPFEN/IEPFPD, 5 June 2003 via news@ippf.org )